Chapter 45 The Venerable Xuanji was dumbfounded; he had personally sent his disciple away…
As Shen Hanzhou watched Elder Chongcang turn and leave, an extremely absurd thought suddenly popped into his mind.
He felt that Elder Chongcang at this moment was like a green orange that had been eagerly picked from the branch before autumn had officially arrived.
It looks like a whole thing on the outside, covered with a gloomy, hard shell that keeps strangers away. But if someone were to peel it open with their bare hands, the inside might already be broken into pieces, with juice flowing everywhere. If you stuff it into someone's mouth, it would make their face scrunch up like an orange butt.
Shen Hanzhou carefully examined Elder Chongcang's face.
After witnessing Shi Liuying choose her senior brother without hesitation and declare "I like my senior brother" with a resounding voice, Shen Hanzhou felt that Elder Chongcang's already pale face was now faintly tinged with a kind of... similar to being marinated in lemon water and turning a sallow yellow.
The impact was so strong that his face turned sore and pale.
Shen Hanzhou is a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, but he's not a bad person at heart.
Looking at Chong Cang's desolate and lonely figure, which seemed about to disappear into the shadows at any moment, a strange sense of sympathy welled up in his heart.
After hesitating for a long time, he still jogged after him, trying to say something to ease the sour and heavy atmosphere.
"Elder... please don't take it too seriously."
Shen Hanzhou racked his brains, trying hard to organize his thoughts: "Liu Ying and Senior Brother... uh, you see, Senior Brother has profound cultivation and is an upright person. He is a role model for the younger generation of our sect."
"Liu Ying is exceptionally gifted, kind-hearted, and progresses rapidly."
"The two of them standing together, it's really... well, a perfect match, complementing each other perfectly, they look so well-matched, they're simply a match made in heaven..."
"Being together isn't such a bad thing."
With each additional word he uttered, Chong Cang's steps seemed to grow heavier, and the oppressive atmosphere around him grew colder.
Shen Hanzhou, oblivious to everything, continued to try to "comfort": "Besides, Senior Brother is polite and distant to everyone, but he seems to be different towards Liu Ying. We should be happy for them that Senior Brother's personality has improved..."
The word "happy" was like a poisoned dagger, precisely stabbing into Chong Cang, a sour orange already broken into eight pieces.
The dull ache and disappointment that had been lingering in her heart were instantly transformed into a raging fire by Shen Hanzhou's "comfort," which only added fuel to the fire.
Chong Cang's defenses were completely breached.
He suddenly stopped and turned around abruptly.
Those gloomy fox eyes were now like frozen pools, fixed on the still-talking Chen Hanzhou. His voice sounded like it was being ground from between his teeth, carrying a chilling aura.
"Sinking—Cold—Boat—"
"Huh? Elder?"
Shen Hanzhou was startled and looked up blankly.
Chong Cang's voice was flat, yet it carried a hint of gritted teeth: "Did you secretly invite someone to try the 'Heart-Corroding Powder' that the Alchemy Hall recently developed?"
Shen Hanzhou was even more confused and subconsciously shook his head: "No? How could such a thing happen?"
"Is that so?" Chong Cang twitched the corners of his mouth, a forced smile that made him appear even more sinister.
"If you didn't eat it, then why is your mouth unusually poisonous today?"
After saying that, he didn't give Shen Hanzhou any chance to speak, glared at him, and stopped looking at his foolish appearance.
Then, with a sudden flick of his sleeves, he left quickly and heavily, enveloped in a thick, almost tangible black aura.
Shen Hanzhou shivered from his last words and gaze, standing frozen in place. After a long while, he raised his hand to touch his mouth, his face full of confusion and innocence, and muttered softly:
"It's...not very poisonous, is it?"
He scratched his head, gazing at Chong Cang's retreating figure, now reduced to a tiny, yellowish-black dot, and muttered to himself, "Besides, when it comes to a sharp tongue, who in our sect can compare to Elder Chong Cang..."
On the other side, the atmosphere was completely different from the low-pressure atmosphere on Chongcang's side.
Jun Lintian's heart was still pounding because of Shi Liuying's earth-shattering words, "I like my senior brother."
The heat in his ears had not yet completely subsided, and his chest was filled with a strange, mixed feeling of ecstasy and uncertainty.
He looked into Shi Liuying's clear eyes and tried his best to remain calm.
His slightly trembling fingertips almost revealed his secret.
Shi Liuying seemed completely oblivious to the turbulent emotions raging around her. After answering the question about "like," she felt that the matter was over and was quite relaxed.
Seeing that Jun Lintian still seemed a little dazed, she added in a lighthearted tone:
"Of course I like my senior brother."
She tilted her head, her expression serious: "If I had to choose between my senior brother and Senior Sister Rong Yan, I would be really troubled and wouldn't know what to do."
She paused, recalling the scene just now, and her tone became matter-of-fact: "But that choice just now, there was absolutely no need to hesitate!"
Junlintian: Something's not right.
Things started to go wrong.
He tried to maintain the gentle curve of his lips, but his voice involuntarily tightened as he asked softly, "...What do you mean?"
Shi Liuying blinked, seemingly not understanding why he asked such a question, and explained in her characteristic straightforward and earnest tone: "It means exactly what it says."
"I really don't know that Sword Master of unknown origin at all, and we have absolutely no connection."
"A stranger of unknown origin?"
Jun Lintian caught this keyword, and his unease grew.
"Yes."
Shi Liuying nodded affirmatively.
Jun Lintian recalled her momentary hesitation under the pressure from Lingxu Sword Master and pressed her for an answer: "Since you don't know her at all, why... did you hesitate just now?"
He took in her brief silence.
Shi Liuying answered honestly, with a troubled look on her face: "Because I'm thinking about finding a way to stop both of you from crying."
She recalled Su Wan's wailing and felt lingering fear. "However, since he asked about 'liking' me, I naturally cannot go against my own heart."
She raised her head and looked at Jun Lintian again, her eyes pure and without a trace of impurity, her tone frank and natural: "I do like Senior Brother."
She looked at Jun Lintian's pale face and guessed that her senior brother might not have a clear understanding of his own charm.
Is my senior brother actually a little insecure?
Shi Liuying patted Jun Lintian on the shoulder to comfort him and give him the greatest encouragement: "Liking your senior brother is really a very easy thing."
She gave an example, trying to make her senior brother understand how natural this was: "Aren't there many disciples in the sect who respect and like you very much, senior brother?"
Jun Lintian: "..."
The two ethereal wooden sticks that supported the smile on his face broke completely.
Jun Lintian couldn't laugh at all. Not only could he not laugh, but the turmoil in his heart turned over, and the next moment of realization was half bitter.
So that's how it is...
Her "liking" was never the same as the secret, possessive "liking" in his heart.
Her affection was the respect a disciple had for his senior brother, the trust and closeness between companions—clear, open, and selfless, without any ulterior motives.
And his...
Just as this subtle sourness was about to spread, a strong surge of spiritual energy suddenly erupted from the simple shed not far away!
The aura rose steadily, drawing the surrounding spiritual energy to converge there like a vortex, eventually transforming into a solid golden light that shot into the sky before slowly receding.
The aura of a Golden Core cultivator steadily emanated.
Immediately afterwards, the shed door was pushed open with a "bang," and a figure rushed out like a small cannonball.
It was Su Wan who had successfully formed her core!
Her face was filled with immense excitement and joy. She spotted Shi Liuying at a glance and immediately pounced over like a cheerful little bird, completely ignoring Jun Lintian, whose aura was somewhat subdued, standing beside her.
"Senior sister! Senior sister! I did it! I've formed my Golden Core!"
Su Wan blushed with excitement and jumped up and down, grabbing Shi Liuying's hand.
Shi Liuying was also happy for her, and a genuine smile appeared in her eyes: "Congratulations, Junior Sister."
As if remembering something, Su Wan hurriedly ran to the giant heart-shaped object, still shrouded in a defensive array and gleaming with precious light, and frantically removed the barrier.
She turned around to face Shi Liuying, clasped her hands in front of her chest, and her eyes shone brightly, filled with pure dependence and affection.
In her usual soft, sweet voice, she confessed with deep affection, "Senior sister, I have to thank you for all of this!"
"Without you, I might never have even touched the threshold of cultivation, let alone formed a golden core!"
She stepped forward, took Shi Liuying's arm tightly, rested her head on her shoulder, and said in a soft, sweet voice, "I love Senior Sister the most! I want to spend my whole life cultivating together like this with Senior Sister forever!"
"It's just the two of us!"
Her voice echoed clearly in the quiet back hills.
No one noticed that behind a huge boulder not far away, a silver-white figure had quietly appeared.
Xuanji Daozun originally sensed the movement of Su Wan forming her core, and then casually picked up a cultivation technique suitable for Golden Core cultivators, intending to "inadvertently" provide guidance.
However, upon his arrival, he witnessed a heartbreaking scene.
His youngest, most adorable, most delicate, and eternally devoted disciple actually said something like wanting to be with someone else forever.
He saw that when Su Wan looked at that woman, her eyes were filled with vitality, hope, and unreserved affection.
Such radiance... he had never seen it before when Su Wan looked at him!
The Daoist Master Xuanji closed his eyes: There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart.
Most importantly, he also saw that damned, ever-present cloud frame reappear above Shi Liuying's head!
The framed image shows two blurry little figures dancing with swords together, their postures intimate, against a backdrop of rosy clouds. The scene... looks exactly like mandarin ducks embroidered stitch by stitch on a mortal's embroidered pillow, as if they are about to fly away together!
The person who was confessed to by Su Wan was clearly very receptive to Su Wan's words, "a world of two where we can cultivate together forever."
She even turned her head slightly to look at Su Wan, who was leaning on her shoulder, her eyes gentle, and softly hummed in agreement, saying clearly, "I like my junior sister very much too."
Xuanji Daozun: "..."
He stared intently at the two people's arms, which were tightly intertwined and almost twisted into a pretzel, and then looked at the glaring "Mandarin Ducks Playing in the Water" picture above Shi Liuying's head, feeling a tightness in his chest.
He stood silently in place, gently placing the scroll of cultivation manual that he had originally prepared for Su Wan on a smooth stone beside him.
Then, he turned and left, his steps still steady, but with an indescribable resolve!
If this continues, it will be disastrous!
We absolutely cannot allow the relationship between these two people to continue developing in such a "distorted" way!
We absolutely have to do something!
Xuanji Daozun clenched his fist: We must take decisive measures to completely separate them!
The next day, just as dawn broke.
Shi Liuying then received a jade slip of extraordinary quality delivered by a spirit crane.
The jade slip unfolded, and spiritual energy coalesced into lines of powerful, vigorous characters—
[Sword Sect Exchange Student Admission Notice]
To: Disciple xxx of the Myriad Manifestations Sect
[We cordially invite you to represent our outstanding disciples at the Sword Sect for a three-year exchange program. The Sword Sect is a sacred ground for sword cultivators, rich in resources and with a strong atmosphere of sparring, making it an excellent platform for honing your swordsmanship and refining your cultivation. Please reply within three days.]
The inscription bears the emblem of the Sword Sect and the personal seal of Lingxu Sword Master.
Shi Liuying looked at the sudden notice with some surprise.
The owner of the seal is probably in some kitchen right now, struggling with squid. Where would they find the time to issue such a notice?
Xuanji Daozun's figure appeared like a ghost, precisely in front of Shi Liuying when Su Wan was not around.
His silver-gray eyes swept over the notification letter, his face expressionless. He simply raised his elegantly shaped chin, gesturing towards the signature area at the end of the letter in a businesslike, unquestionable tone:
Write your name at xx.
He added in a calm tone, as if stating an objective fact: "The Sword Sect is a larger platform for exchange and competition that is more suitable for you."
He deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of certain words.
"That's the Sword Sect, more suitable for a sword cultivator like you."
Subtext: So stop hanging out with that unconventional Hammer Builder all the time.
He continued his "objective" analysis: "Sword cultivators in the Sword Sect have a greater fondness for sparring and dueling, which can greatly hone your practical swordsmanship."
The subtext is: the better they fight until everyone is bloodied and battered, then they won't have time to think about anything else.
His tone even carried a rare hint of warmth at the end: "Once the exchange period is over, you can choose to come back, or... choose to stay in the Sword Sect."
Subtext: Of course, I would prefer you to be sensible and choose the latter, and never come back to abduct my disciples again.
As he spoke, he carefully observed Shi Liuying's reaction.
When he mentioned words like "sparring" and "sharpening swordsmanship," Shi Liuying's clear eyes lit up instantly.
The situation is excellent! This is the desire to become stronger and the anticipation of challenges!
Xuanji Daozun felt a slight sense of relief; it seemed his strategy had worked.
Then, he saw Shi Liuying pick up a pen and, without any hesitation, solemnly and carefully write three words on the notice—
Teacher, Flowing, Firefly.
When the name was fully displayed on the jade slip, Xuanji Daozun frowned slightly as he looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar handwriting.
Shi Liuying...
This name...
Why does it feel so familiar?
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Author's Note: Shi Liuying's talent was discovered by the Sword Sect, and the elders of the Sword Sect fought each other fiercely, each trying to take her as their disciple.
The Venerable Xuanji, who had personally sent his disciple away, shed tears of regret: That! Was! My! Heaven! Talent! Beloved! Disciple!
Still random red envelopes [pat on the head]
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